Navigate

Herrera, Ahumada Receive Prestigious Graduate Fellowships from the National Science
Foundation in 2013

The Graduate Research Fellowships from the National Science Foundation Awards have been announced for 2013! This fellowship provides a stipend for three
years of graduate study, and is based on academic excellence at the undergraduate
level. Ruth Herrera and Manuel Alhumada, both from the ME program, have both been
named recipients of this prestigious award this year and are two of 6 recipients from
all of SJSU. The complete list of 2013 awardees can be found here. Previous recipients from our department include Monica Kapil (BSME 2010, currently
pursuing a PhD at UC Berkeley) and Anita Rogacs (BSME 2007, currently pursuing a PhD
at Stanford).

Ruth Herrera Reed graduated with her BSME in 2010, and is currently pursuing a PhD in mechanical engineering
at University of California at Berkeley. The title of her proposed research project
is "Analysis of Molten Glass in Direct Absorption Receivers." Here is a brief description
written by Ruth:

"In direct absorption receivers, the working fluid is exposed to solar flux directly.
One of the benefits of direct exposure is that the working fluid does not encounter
temperature drops since it does not get absorbed by another material. This helps to
increase the working fluid temperature and to increase the efficiency of the system.
It also reduces costs of materials and damages that could be caused when the working
fluid runs through tubes. In addition, the working fluid can absorb higher solar fluxes
as compared to conventional receivers, which helps to reduce the size of the absorber
surface as well. This potentially increases the efficiency of the system since it
decreases the losses due to re-radiation.

Molten salt has been use in CSP technologies as a working fluid due to its excellent
heat transfer properties. Molten salt main disadvantage is its operation temperature
range which ranges between 300C and 580C. In order to increase the efficiency of CSP
technologies, the operation temperature needs to increase from 800C to 1000C.

Another possible excellent working fluid is molten glass. Molten glass shows similar
values for heat capacities and thermal conductivities as molten salt. However, molten
glass has greater viscosities at high temperatures compared to molten salt. Higher
viscosities are of a major advantage for a working fluid since it shows that the working
fluid will be able to retain higher temperatures when it goes through the Rankine
cycle.

The main goal is to analyze molten glass to predict their outlet temperatures, calculate
their heat transfer coefficient and its efficiency."

Manuel Ahumada will receive his BSME in June 2013. In regards to his plans, he is almost certainly
settled on attending Stanford, and plans to send in his acceptance on April 15th.
He intends on obtaining a Ph.D in mechanical engineering focusing on robotics and
control systems. After that, he plans on continuing his research efforts as a professor.
He has grown a liking for both research and helping people reach their goals, and
feels as though being a professor would definitely allow him to continue both while
being a positive role model for future students.

We will check in with Manuel in the fall when he is settled at a school and a research
project, so stay tuned for further news.